--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: On 20 November, front-line troops got 500…" description: "\"“On 20 November, front-line troops got 500 grams of bread per day, factory workers received 250, and everyone else 125 (that is, two slices). ‘Twigs we..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d0/andrew-roberts-22281_guinea-pig_on-20-november-front-line-troops-got-500_3229405.png" --- # On 20 November, front-line troops got 500 grams of bread… ![“On 20 November, front-line troops got 500 grams of bread per day, factory workers received 250, and everyone else 125 (that is, two slices). ‘Twigs were collected and stewed,’ records an historian of the siege. ‘Peat shavings, cottonseed cake, bonemeal was pressed into use. Pine sawdust was…” quote by Andrew Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d0/andrew-roberts-22281_guinea-pig_on-20-november-front-line-troops-got-500_3229405.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d0/andrew-roberts-22281_guinea-pig_on-20-november-front-line-troops-got-500_3229405.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d0/andrew-roberts-22281_guinea-pig_on-20-november-front-line-troops-got-500_3229405.png) > ““On 20 November, front-line troops got 500 grams of bread per day, factory workers received 250, and everyone else 125 (that is, two slices). ‘Twigs were collected and stewed,’ records an historian of the siege. ‘Peat shavings, cottonseed cake, bonemeal was pressed into use. Pine sawdust was processed and added to the bread. Mouldy grain was dredged from sunken barges and scraped out of the holds of ships. Soon Leningrad bread was containing 10% cottonseed cake that had been processed to remove poisons. Household pets, shoe leather, fir bark and insects were consumed, as was wallpaper paste which was reputed to be made with potato flour. Guinea pigs, white mice and rabbits were saved from vivisection in the city’s laboratories for a more immediately practical fate. ‘Today it is so simple to die,’ wrote one resident, Yelena Skryabina, in her diary. ‘You just begin to lose interest, then you lie on your bed and you never get up again. Yet some people were willing to go to any lengths in order to survive: 226 people were arrested for cannibalism during the siege. ‘Human meat is being sold in the markets,’ concluded one secret NKVD report, ‘while in the cemeteries bodies pile up like carcasses, without coffins.”” [Andrew Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-roberts/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The siege forced extreme rationing and desperate measures for survival, including consumption of unconventional and sometimes unsafe food sources and even cannibalism. **In simple terms:** People resorted to extreme survival tactics during the siege. Key Takeaway Recognize the limits of endurance and the moral costs of survival. Themes war survival morality humanity extremes Mood despair grim reflective Type historical documentary When to use this quote - civilian life - military logistics - food supply chains - ethical dilemmas Key Concepts rationing cannibalism psychological trauma resource scarcity Questions to Reflect On - How do societies balance survival with moral standards? - What lessons can modern disaster planning learn from such extremes? A Different Perspective The account may exaggerate or lack corroboration for some details; context of wartime propaganda can affect reliability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Siege](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/siege/) ## Related quotes > [At the time when I was conducting my research there was no known method for taking the guinea pig's temperature. 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'He works…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-lee-allen/the-guinea-pig-took-another-sip-of-his-beer-and-rolled-his-eyes-in/) Stewart Lee Allen Browse all 108 Guinea pig quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“On 20 November, front-line troops got 500 grams of bread per day, factory workers received 250, and everyone else 125 (that is, two slices). ‘Twigs were collected and stewed,’ records an historian of the siege. ‘Peat shavings, cottonseed cake, bonemeal was pressed into use. Pine sawdust was processed and added to the bread. Mouldy grain was dredged from sunken barges and scraped out of the holds of ships. Soon Leningrad bread was containing 10% cottonseed cake that had been processed to remove poisons. Household pets, shoe leather, fir bark and insects were consumed, as was wallpaper paste which was reputed to be made with potato flour. 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